


Loving Is Easy

by Sweetest_Thiam



Series: Sweethearts [3]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Domestic Fluff, Flashbacks, M/M, Meeting the Parents, Mentions of math, Theo Raeken Loves Liam Dunbar, a tiny bit of angst, high school thiam, soft boyfriends
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-15
Updated: 2019-04-15
Packaged: 2020-01-13 07:05:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,437
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18463939
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sweetest_Thiam/pseuds/Sweetest_Thiam
Summary: Theo and Liam have been dating for a month now, and though they're both anxious for their own reasons, they have to meet each other's families. That includes single fathers, annoying older brothers, and mentions of childhood trauma that Theo would rather not bring back up





	Loving Is Easy

**Author's Note:**

> This isn't necessarily based off of the song, but "Loving Is Easy" by Rex Orange County was playing during the writing process.

"Liam is literally the cutest thing," Tracy scoffed, sounding kind of disgusted rather than endeared.

Theo, Tracy, Josh, and Mason were all in the living room of Theo's house, lounging around on their phones and enjoying the calmness of a night with no homework. The room was warm with afternoon sunlight, and since it was getting warmer out, a window was opened and filling the room with the scent of grass. While Josh was sitting on the couch next to Theo's dad and Mason was cross-legged on the carpet, the girl of the group was laying on the floor next to Theo, clicking through something on her phone.

Theo shifted over with interest. "What?" He asked, amusement clear in his voice. Tracy turned his phone screen to show him, and Theo smiled softly.

It was Liam's Instagram story. It usually held pictures of the newest lacrosse scores or him and his friends, but today, it was one picture, and it was Theo. He was holding the flower Liam had given him this morning and smiling like a guy who had just won the lottery, because in that moment, that was how he was feeling: he struck gold with Liam Dunbar. 

"Happy One Month" was across the bottom of the screen, tagging him below it, and Theo regretted not having his notifications on so he could see it before it was hours old like it was now, but he remembered that morning and his heart started doing the same fluttery thing it always did around Liam. When he had come to school that day, he had wondered if Liam would remember that it was their one-month anniversary of dating, but Liam had shown up with a daisy that looked like it came straight from his mom's garden and a big grin on his face, dashing Theo's fears right away. The picture was there to prove it.

"Oh," Theo laughed breathlessly, and his cheeks turned pink. "Y-yeah."

Tracy rolled her eyes and pressed the buttons to take a screenshot, something that Theo had gotten quite used to her doing during their years of friendship since she liked to have proof that her friends actually have lives, and 'aawwed' sarcastically. 

"What are you fawning over over there?" Josh asked from the couch, and Mason looked up from his own screen. Tracy snorted.

"Liam's story," She said, clicking out and into her own profile to add something to her own. Theo rolled his eyes as she typed out a small caption to a photo of herself, probably something about being single.

Mason and Josh looked at each other before opening up Liam's story, both making faces that showed their opinions. Mason gave a small smile and shook his head, wondering to himself where the hell Theo had managed to find a guy like that, and Josh just laughed out loud and tried not to act like he thought it was cute.

"What're you kids up to?" Jonathan, Theo's dad, asked, pausing his TV show. Theo sighed and shook his head, but Josh was already poised to show Jonathan what Liam had posted.

When it came to Liam, his friends were snitches.

Jonathan took his reading glasses off his head and looked at the picture, still squinting a little to see what Liam had written. "Oh," he said. "I should've known it was that boyfriend of yours, you have that look, T."

"I do not have a look!" Theo protested, sitting up. All three of his friends and his dad gave him one of those 'are you kidding me' sideyes, and he layed back down. "Okay, fine. Maybe I have a look."

"Oh, there's no maybe," Josh started, but Theo's glare shut him down and he went back to his game.

"You know," Jonathan said, looking at Theo. "When the hell am I ever gonna meet this kid? It's been a month...I'd say that's a good time to introduce him to dear old Dad."

Theo cringed. "Dad..." he groaned, and Jonathan raised his eyebrows. Even if he was generally a chill guy, he wasn't kidding, and Theo knew it by the look on his face. "Fine. I'll talk to Liam about it, see what we can do. Just...don't be weird, okay?"

"I won't, I won't," Jonathan sighed, putting his hands up in defense. "No telling him about the baseball incident, no talking about sixth grade, and no showing him your baby pictures."

Theo blanched and sat up again. "You swore you would never talk about the baseball incident," he hissed, and Tracy busted out laughing while the other two sat confused, since they weren't there for that fateful day. Jonathan only smirked and shook his head at Theo's teenage embarrassment.

"Wait, baby Theo pictures?" Josh realized a few seconds later, and Mason and Tracy both perked up.

"Yeah, I've got a couple of photo albums up here somewhere..." Jonathan trailed, trying to remember where he put them. Josh's eyes went immediately to the bookshelf by the TV and ran towards it, Theo sputtering as Josh ran his fingers along the spines of different books.

"Ah! Found one! Can I look at it?"

"Sure!" "No!" The two Raekens said at the same time.

\---

After Theo brushed his teeth and took off his jeans to get ready for bed, he remembered what his Dad had said earlier that day. As he slid into bed and plugged his phone in, he debated it for a second before pressing on his name in his contacts, and then headed for the phone icon after typing out a poorly-worded text. 

It was late to be calling someone, so Theo didn't really expect Liam to answer. Then again, Liam was known for surprising him, and he picked up before the first ring was even over. "Hey," He said, and Theo could faintly hear the sounds of a TV playing in the background. "Jase and I were just watching Umbrella Academy, what's up?"

Even though Theo's mood went through the roof at hearing Liam's voice, he was still a little nervous to ask about this. He balanced his phone between his ear and his shoulder, fidgeting with the edge of his comforter. "My dad asked me today when he was going to meet you," Theo started, pausing to make sure Liam didn't want to say anything. "...Is that something you're comfortable with?" Theo asked, and he heard a few seconds of silence on the other end and a shuffling noise.

"Yeah, yeah, that's fine," Liam said quickly afterwards, but then slowed down to a normal pace. He didn't sound as nervous as Theo thought he might, so he took it as a good sign. "When should I come over?"

Theo grinned to himself, still staring down at his blue blanket. "I know my dad is free on Thursday, if that's okay," Theo mentioned.

"Hold on, let me ask my mom," Liam said. Theo heard a quiet 'ask me what?' from whatever room Liam was in, and there was a pause before Liam's voice came back clearly. "She says that's good."

"Great!" Theo said, maybe a little too enthusiastically. "Can you drive down at five?"

"Of course. I have to go, but I'll see you tomorrow?" Liam asked as though it wasn't a given.

"See you then. Goodnight, Li," Theo said, still with a soft smile on his face.

"Goodnight, T."

When Theo hung up the phone, he opened up Netflix to see what that "Umbrella Academy" was all about. Huh, maybe ten hours' worth of content was enough to fit into one night?

\---

It was Thursday now, two days after Theo had started watching the show, and he was positively exhausted when he arrived at school. Still, he regretted nothing; the conversations he had with Liam about it were priceless. 

This morning, though, Liam was different. They had texted until some wee hours of the morning about the differences between the Hargreeves brothers and why Vanya deserved better, but there was barely anything said when they met up outside at school. Liam's group and Theo's group didn't really hang out together yet, so they were often found just sitting with each other, which they were both perfectly content with, but it wasn't the same when Liam didn't say anything. Except for a "hey" when Theo sat down on the bench next to him, there was basically silence.

Theo noticed Liam's leg bouncing up and down, and something in his stomach dropped and burned with dread. Liam was rarely nervous around anyone, and when he was, it was a bashful kind of nervous that was cute, the type to make his stomach have butterflies and his cheeks to flush. But this was worse, and Theo didn't know how to deal with it. Out of instinct, Theo reached out and placed a hand on one of Liam's knees, making both legs stop moving. Liam looked up at him, and Theo could almost see the anxiety in his eyes. "You okay?" He asked softly, voice full of concern for his boyfriend. He'd never seen Liam like this before, but he knew one thing for sure: he hated it. 

Liam nodded quickly, but it was clear that Theo wasn't convinced, so he sighed. "No, I'm fine, I'm just nervous. I haven't had to meet anyone's dad before, and I...don't really know how dads work." Theo's other hand went to Liam's back and a small breath escaped his lips, something that told Liam that Theo understood. "I'm sorry, that sounded really pathetic," Liam tried to laugh, but he couldn't quite force a smile.

"Don't be sorry," Theo said firmly but reassuringly, rubbing small circles into Liam's back. "You don't have to go if you're not ready."

"No," Liam protested. "I'm going. I want to meet your dad like a normal guy would, and I need to do it sooner or later."

Theo kept his hand flat on Liam's back, intictually making sure that his breaths weren't getting too fast or too slow, trying to keep him calm. He wondered silently what Liam was going through that made him so hesitant to see his father, since he knew that things in the Dunbar house weren't always smooth-sailing. Still, he didn't ask. He didn't want to overwhelm him, and if he could help it, he would let Liam come to him about it if he needed to say something. 

The taller of the two wasn't sure what to say. This seemed like the time to say an "I love you," but they'd never said that before and he had no idea what to do when they did. He opted instead for kissing the top of Liam's head, whispering a small "you're great," against his hair. Liam smiled and leaned into Theo further, feeling a little bit better about the dinner. He wouldn't be going into it alone, he remembered, and Theo would be right by his side the whole time.

\---

That wasn't to say that Liam wasn't a nervous wreck the first time he saw Jonathan Raeken. He looked great on the outside, like a normal teenage boy who was just going to his boyfriend's house, but on the inside his gut was churning and he was seriously afraid he might pass out or throw up.

He knew he didn't have a big reason to be so nervous about this, but he also knew deep down that this wasn't just about meeting Theo's dad. From what he'd heard, Jonathan Raeken only ever made people uncomfortable with teasing, which Liam was well used to, but that was from people like Theo and his classmates. Not necessarily people who were so much older than him, and probably a lot more judgemental than other sixteen-year-olds. 

Still, there was no turning back now, since his car was parked in Theo's driveway and he could see Theo coming down the stairs through the lit window. He knew how excited his boyfriend had gotten about this over the last few days, so he really didn't want to mess it up now. Theo opened the front door and Liam took a deep breath before stepping out of his car, meeting Theo in the middle of the walkway. "Hey," He said nervously, just as he would when they weren't dating yet. Theo smiled warmly and wrapped an arm around the smaller boy's waist, which let Liam relax a little bit, something comforting to get him through the first few minutes of his meeting.

Theo's house was about as big as his, the front door merely leading to two staircases, one that went down and another that went up. "Welcome to the Raeken House," Theo said somewhat dramatically, and Liam let himself laugh quietly. Theo's dad was still elsewhere, so he focused on his boyfriend instead. Theo seemed to sense Liam's nerves, so he pressed a kiss to the top of his head and held him closer to his side, enveloping Liam in the strong warmth he'd grown accustomed to. "You make yourself comfortable, okay? I'll go and get him, it's gonna be okay." Liam nodded along and sat down on the couch that Theo guided him to, his heart pumping a little harder with anxiety when Theo went away.

Emerging from the kitchen was Theo and a man who was slightly taller, but only by about an inch. He looked just like Theo, just older, and Liam's fears were put off for a second as his eyes caught the resemblance. Mr. Raeken had brown eyes that didn't match his son's green, but their noses were the same and so was the color of their hair. "Dad, this is Liam. Liam, this is my dad."

Liam rose from the couch, trying his hardest to ignore the way his legs shook. "Hi, Mr. Raeken," He greeted, offering out a hand, which Jonathan thankfully took with a shake of his head.

"Please, Mr. Raeken makes me sound so old. Call me Jonathan." Jonathan offered a grin to Liam that he couldn't return, so he just nodded his head. Liam wasn't sure if he could do that out of his own shyness, but he would try. "Dinner's about ready, you can make yourself at home. But not too at home," He pointed a finger accusingly at Theo, who gave his dad a lighthearted eyeroll. He was relieved to hear a breath of amusement come from Liam, however small it was. 

"I'm sure the food is great, dad," Theo deflected, motioning to Liam to follow into the dining room. The dining room was connected to the kitchen, a long table that was pretty unnecessary for the two guys who usually ate at it. There were always five chairs there, though, although Liam didn't stop to think about why.

Theo sat in his own and nodded towards the seat next to him, which Liam took gratefully, happy to not have to choose. "It smells delicious, Mr-Jonathan," Liam corrected, and Jonathan beamed. Theo gripped his hand under the table and Liam smiled softly, feeling more and more like he belonged there was time went on.

\---

As it turned out, Jonathan Raeken was probably the least intimidating person Liam had ever had dinner with, which surprised him. His own father was nothing like how Theo's was, which he was relieved to see. He was all smiles and jokes, embarrassing and teasing Theo in a way that had no ulterior motives, no mean-spiritedness or genuity. It was easy to talk to Jonathan.

"You know that my son's had a crush on you since forever, right?" Jonathan asked once, pointing a fork in Theo's direction, who flushed. Liam grinned and nodded, looking down at his plate that was quickly being emptied. Jonathan was a good cook, after all.

"I know,” Liam admitted, nodding slightly, and Theo lightly elbowed him in the ribs. “I liked him for longer, though.”

“That’s right,” Theo rang in when his dad looked impressed, wondering how the hell someone had liked his son for that long and he hadn’t noticed. Theo was usually good at picking things up like that, so it seemed weird that he wouldn’t have known already. His teenage obliviousness must’ve kicked in by now or something.

“Well, I’m glad you’re finally together. Theo’s been a lot happier recently now that you’re here.”

Liam turned to his boyfriend, who was still a little pink and staring at his lap. He rubbed Theo’s shoulder with one of his hands, feeling a little dizzy from that statement. It was still odd to him that Theo even liked him, let alone had let Liam have an effect on him.

Liam and Jonathan talked about simple things, and Liam was comfortable with all of it. Jonathan asked what kind of things he was into, so Liam told him about things like sports and his favorite classes. “I’ve always loved lacrosse, but I’ll admit that I’ve taken a liking to football recently,” Liam said, nudging Theo lightly, who smiled widely.

“Really? I tried to learn how to play when I was your age, how did you learn?” Jonathan asked.

“My older brother taught me, actually. When I was in seventh grade I wanted to play with the other boys at recess, so he taught me some tips. Sometimes he’s not all annoying,” Liam admitted of his older brother, who Theo had met once before. “I have two. The older one is a senior, Jase, and I also have a four-year-old one too, Tyler.”

“Your mom must have a handful,” Jonathan laughed. “No girls?”

“Nope, just us three. I can tell she kind of wanted a girl though, she’s always been really attached to Jase’s girlfriends.”

“Ah, well, Theo’s my only boy. I remember what it was like to have multiple kids running around. Tara-”

Theo choked on his water and Jonathan stilled, stopping whatever he was about to say. Liam’s head shot over to look at Theo, who was desperately trying to recover from his reaction and go back to normal. He hadn’t expected him to bring up Tara like she was still there, especially not in front of Liam.

Liam looked at him sympathetically, Jonathan murmuring an apology and Theo looking around nervously. After that, the conversation took a different turn, but Liam still had a sick feeling in his stomach about Theo being upset.

\---

After dinner, Jonathan let Liam and Theo go to his room with the condition that they kept the door open. Theo gave one last roll of his eyes before leading Liam to his bedroom, wondering if one day this would ever be more...well, less PG-13. Liam seemed to be thinking the same, because he was fighting off a blush as he looked around.

“You ever think about…?” Liam breathed, looking around Theo’s pretty much clean room. Theo groaned and rubbed the back of his neck.

“Liam, if you make me think about this right now, I’m gonna have to break the open-door rule.”

Liam smirked at the look in Theo’s eyes and came closer, getting in Theo’s space and guiding his boyfriend’s hands so they rested on his waist. Theo screwed his eyes shut and tried to move away. “Quit tempting me,” He sighed, willing himself not to look at the probably irresistible face Liam wore or lean in closer.

“You’d love that, wouldn’t you,” Liam whispered, his nerves obviously gone as Theo bit his lip.

“Liam, I am not having sex with my dad downstairs,” He hissed, opening his eyes and regretting it, since Liam’s eyes were bright and he was leaning in. Their lips caught together in a kiss and Theo’s arguments were gone. Liam’s hands found their way into Theo’s hair that was starting to get a little bit long, and oh-

The door was pushed open a little further. “No closed doors,” Theo’s dad reminded, and the boys both flinched away until they were three feet away with shock. Jonathan smirked and walked off, carrying a basket of laundry that he was planning on doing.

Liam and Theo turned their heads from the door to look at each other, silence between them for just a second before Theo bursted out laughing, much to both of their reliefs. Liam’s body shook with laughter and his head fell to rest on Theo’s chest, the one he could stand in the middle of a room and laugh with like no one else.

\---

A few days later, Liam and Theo were walking out to the parking lot hand-in-hand. Since the two lovestruck teenagers wanted to be around each other as much as possible, it was like this from the moment they saw each other in the morning to the end of the day, but nobody had any complaints. Tracy’s jokes about Theo being whipped weren’t exactly false, but Liam was just as much taken with him, so it wasn’t even an insult at that point.

Today was no different. They’d said goodbye to Liam’s friends and then Theo’s, and they were headed out to the cars so they could then say goodbye to each other. The routine might seem too lovey-dovey for everyone else, but if it meant seeing each other more often, they didn’t mind it at all. Of course, things weren’t always the same. Yesterday Liam’s car had refused to start so Theo’s dad gave him a lift back to his house, and today he just didn’t have one since his was in the shop.

A blue car, darker than Liam’s blue, pulled up in the pickup lane as Liam and Theo were making their way towards Theo’s dad’s car. Liam groaned when he realized who’s it was, and Theo chuckled as Jase rolled down his window and leaned out. “Hey, Liam!” He yelled far too loud, as if Liam wasn’t standing right in front of it. The back window opened and Tyler stuck a little hand out.

“Why does Ty know how to open a window?” Liam asked annoyedly, and Jase shrugged.

“I taught him. Is that Theo I see?” Jase teased, and Liam folded his arms over his chest, not dignifying his brother with a response. “When are you gonna bring him around for dinner.”

“Ha-ha, shut up, Jase,” Liam laughed sarcastically, looking from his brother to Theo.

“Oh, come on, you know Tyler and Mom have been so excited to meet your boyfriend!” Jase yelled as though Theo wasn’t even there, who was scratching the back of his head idly.

“We’ll talk about this later,” Liam sighed, pressing a kiss to Theo’s cheek and getting into the passenger seat of his brother’s car. Jase ‘awwed’ and Tyler waved goodbye to nothing in particular.

Once they were a few minutes away from the school, Jase turned to his brother and smirked. “Do you not want Theo to meet Mom?”

Liam huffed. “No. I don’t want him to have to sit through dinner with you.”

Jase feigned offense as he turned at the corner, rolling his eyes. “Why not? I’ll be on my best behavior,” Jase promised, and Liam scoffed.

“I’ve seen your best behavior. It’s not that impressive.”

“Ouch. Well, I guess I’ll just have to tell mom that you’re embarrassed of us if it’s gonna be like that…”

Liam gave Jase a death glare, Tyler giggling in his carseat even though he had no idea what was going on. All he knew was that Liam was mad, and the youngest kid always found that inexplicably funny. “You wouldn’t.”

“Oh, but wouldn’t I?” Jase threatened playfully, ignoring that Liam was serious. “I’m gonna call her. She’s probably so tired from looking at colleges all day with me, so she’ll be sure to be offended and cranky when I tell her just how mortified you are of our family.”

“You’re an asshole!” Liam yelled, trying to grab for Jase’s phone.

“Language! We’ve got a kid on board! Here, let me just…” Jase’s finger hovered over the ‘call’ button on his screen, and Liam groaned out in frustration as he got out his own phone.

“Fine!” Liam shouted. “Fine.”

Clicking on the green button, Liam put the phone up to his ear and looked at Jase pointedly and angrily as Theo picked up. “Hey, Li,” Theo greeted with a questioning tone, since it had literally been less than five minutes since they’d talked. “What’s up?”

“I was wondering if you wanted to have dinner with me and my family soon,” Liam shot out, wanting to get his point across as fast as possible. “And it’s super okay if you don’t want to, since I’d understand, since my brothers are kind of a handful and you might not be ready to meet my mom yet, but Jase-”

“I’d love to,” Theo said, cutting him off, and Liam could practically see Theo’s smile on the other end of the line. Jase smirked at his brother’s surprised expression. “I’ll ask my dad and we can set up something, okay?”

“Wow, alright, that was simple,” Liam breathed, a hint of relief in his tone. “I’ll see what my mom wants to do. Thanks,” Liam said, and Theo laughed.

“For what?”

“Not freaking out like I did,” Liam admitted, shrugging his shoulders even though Theo couldn’t see him.

“No problem. I’ll see you soon,” Theo said as a goodbye, and Liam hung up the phone, turning back to Jase with a scowl.

“You happy now?” He sighed, tossing his phone into his bag as they pulled into the driveway. Jase smirked at him once again and got out of the car to unbuckle their little brother from the constraints of his car seat while Liam headed for the door.

When he went into his kitchen to find that his mom was already at the table reading, he hung up his bag and plugged in his computer quietly instead of just tossing his things on the ground like he normally would. “Hey, Mom,” He greeted softly, not wanting to annoy her. Luckily, Jenna was in a good mood (having been reading a good chapter, no doubt) and smiled up at him. “How was your day?”

“It was fine. Looking at colleges used to be a lot less complicated. I was the one doing most of the looking, after all, but at least I’ve got time now,” She explained, motioning to her setup at the table. Ever since Jenna had gotten a promotion at work that meant different hours, she had taken to reading and was even starting to write her own stories as well. She had a glass of water with what looked like cucumber in it, another book for when she finished the one she was reading, Catching Fire, and her phone playing some music.

“What’s up, Mom, you got that salad water again?” Jase asked, shutting the back door behind him and almost forgetting that he’d left his little brother outside until Tyler squeaked indignantly.

“It’s detox water. I believe you have some applications to look at?” She asked pointedly to Jase, who sighed and nodded before heading towards the stairs.

“Yeah. Oh!” Jase exclaimed, reminded of their conversation in the car. “Liam invited his boyfriend over for dinner.” Jenna looked from her oldest to her middle son questioningly when Liam scoffed.

“I didn’t, I was forced to. And I didn’t invite him, like, tonight or anything, but Jase bothered me into doing it.”

Jenna let a smile spread across her face. “Well, I think that’s great. I’ve been dying to meet this Theo character, tell him that anytime that works is good for me! Is he a vegetarian or anything?”

\--

Three nights later, Friday, Liam found himself pacing around his kitchen as his mom made some chicken. “Okay, so there are a few things you can’t talk about with him, stuff that’s either sensitive or hurtful.” Jenna nodded, motioning for him to continue. “Like, for example, his parents and pretty much anything family related. He’s still got his dad and you can talk about that, but he lost his sister a few years back and his mom left them.”

“Okay, no family matters,” Jenna assured, stirring something on the stove.

“And YOU-” Liam emphasized as Jase walked through, yanking an earbud out of his older brother’s ear and pointing a finger in his face. “That applies for you as well!”

“Dead sister, gone mom, got it,” Jase said, trying to get past, but Liam stopped him.

“I’m serious! I really don’t want to mess this up with him, and it’s important that nothing bad happens!”

“Sweetie, it’s fine,” Jenna sighed in that mom type of way. “From the way you talk about him, I’m pretty sure he’d like you even if you killed somebody. Calm down a little, okay?”

And while Liam was bad at calming down, he tried his hardest until Theo arrived.

\---

Dinner at the Dunbar-Geyer house was actually a lot of fun. The food was still cooking by the time Theo had gotten there, leaving some time for Theo to chat with Liam’s mom in the kitchen. Liam sat next to him at the table, making sure he wasn't uncomfortable, but Theo didn't seem to be having a problem with that. Jase was doing homework and not bothering them and Tyler was playing, so there was really nothing to screw anything up. They talked about the normal stuff: School, sports, clubs, all avoiding the concept of family life.

"You guys want to taste this? Tell me what you think," Jenna said, already pushing a small bowl of the chicken and rice towards the boys with two forks. Theo tasted it and smiled.

"It's very good, Mrs. Geyer. My dad isn't exactly the best cook," Theo joked, and Liam tsked. 

"I thought dinner was great!"

"Well, you only had pasta, which is one of the three things he knows how to cook: quesadillas, grilled cheese, or pasta, and that's it."

"What does your dad do, Theo?" Jenna asked from the stove.

"He does something in real estate, setting up houses and listings online."

"What about your mom?"

There was a pause in the air and Liam's eyes widened. Jenna stopped stirring the pan and turned back to them. "I'm so sorry," She started, but Theo shook his head, straightening out his shoulders and a small grin.

"It's okay, really. She was a lawyer, on the Hale Fire case actually," Theo mentioned, playing with the edge of his shirt. "I don't remember much about it."

"Really, I'm sorry for bringing it up, I don't know where my mind was," Jenna sighed, but Theo just shrugged. 

"Seriously, it's fine. It happens."

The rest of the talk in the house was a lot more lighthearted, much to their relief. Dinner started, and the group was a lot bigger than it had been at Theo's house, but that only made it more fun. Liam's stepdad David sat down with them next to his wife and talked to Theo kindly like he had known him for awhile, and Jase and Theo talked about football. Liam watched as they debated which teams were better, Theo being set on the Eagles and Jase talking highly about the Patriots.

"You guys know that we're on the exact opposite side of the country from both of those teams, right?" Liam smirked, and Jase rolled his eyes at his little brother. They went back to talking about the super bowl win until Tyler came up to the two of them with a little smile on his face and put his arms up to be picked up. Jase put him on his lap, but the toddler instead climbed over the chair to Theo. 

"Ty," Jenna started exasperatedly as he tried to settle himself on Theo's lap, but Theo shook his head.

"It's okay, I like kids," Theo said with a smile, and Jenna sat back down. Liam rested his chin on one hand and watched as Theo held his little brother, something about the whole picture being extra cute. He wondered to himself if Theo would ever want to have kids one day, and if they would have them together- oh, okay, WAY too fast, Dunbar... you may have liked him for years, but it's only been a month and a week. 

The conversation somehow got to the stupid but cute way Jase had met his girlfriend, (hitting her in the face with his backpack a little too hard) which inevitably lead to Liam and Theo's story. "You can make fun of me all you want for almost breaking her face, but remember that Liam liked Theo because he sucked at math."

Liam burned red. "We don't really have to talk about eighth grade Liam, do we?" He sighed, but Theo looked at him with interest. He too remembered the day that they had talked for the first time, and though his own feelings weren't developed yet, he could definitely see how they might in the future. 

"Tell the story, Li!" Jase insisted. 

"Yeah, tell the story, Li," Theo said, raising his eyebrows and shooting him one of his trademark Raeken smirks. Liam rolled his eyes and began, since now everyone was looking at him expectantly and there was no way he was going to get out of it.

\---

Eighth grade was an okay year for Liam, but it was also the year that he was starting to figure some things out. The first thing he had discovered was that he was relatively attractive for a fourteen-year-old, which gave him an advantage when it came to dating. Along with that, he also found out that guys were looking a lot more interesting than usual, and he came to the conclusion that he was 100 percent bisexual when he found that he had a crush on both a girl and a guy at the same time, neither more or less important. The third thing he realized was that he was terrible at the algebra class that he'd been placed in, which stressed him out to no end.

Seriously, they were just numbers, so why were they so complicated and daunting? He didn't even understand the simple stuff like turning a fraction into a decimal or vice versa. Whatever the fuck the Pythagorean Theorem was was apparently easy to the rest of his classmates, but he kept getting the numbers mixed up.

He must have looked particularly frustrated one day in class, because the guy beside him said, "Are you okay?" The guy wasn't Theo, rather one of Theo's friends. Liam had been seated in between them to keep them quiet, so Theo was on the other side of him. "You look like you're about to blow a fuse."

Liam scowled at the guy and turned back to his paper. A second voice from the other side of him spoke up next. "Do you need help?"

Liam knew the guy as Theo, a cute and kind of funny guy who he shared a couple of classes with but never talked to. He'd be lying if he said he didn't steal a few glances at him when he was bored, but he wrote it off as just being a new bi. "Yeah," he admitted defeatedly, deciding to just screw it or take the grade. It was almost the end of the year and he had a low 'D' for that marking period, so he had to get help somehow.

Theo got out of his chair and leaned over Liam's desk, taking his pencil out of his hand gently and brushing his fingers with his own, which made Liam clench his teeth. Not the time to be catching feelings, you're in math class, focus, dumbass. "What you need to do is find the correct measurements for each side of a triangle. The longest one is C, so substitute that in..." Theo explained, doing a problem slowly to show him. Liam watched his nice handwriting flow on his page, now suddenly very intent on learning math, especially when Theo...smelled good? "Then the other two are A and B squared. Four squared is sixteen, eight squared is twenty-four, so if you add those together you get forty. All you have to do now is find the square root of forty." Theo still stuck around until Liam wrote down an answer, resting his hand on the back of Liam's chair. Liam managed to get the answer right, and he smiled up at Theo.

"Thanks," He said almost excitedly, glad to know what to do now. He got caught for just a second in Theo's weirdly green eyes that he wouldn't have noticed before, but quickly snapped out of it. 

The tingle on his fingers and the scent of whatever Theo had on still haunted him the entire class period, and from that day on...well, things weren't really the same for Liam's once casual feelings towards the boy.

\--- 

"You're cute," Theo commented when the story was done, and Liam shoved him playfully. Theo could think he was cute all he wanted, but not at the dinner table.

After dinner, Liam and Theo headed back to Theo's place. Liam had driven them both there, so he gave him a ride back and they just enjoyed each other's presence in almost-silence, but that didn't sit completely well with Liam. When he pulled up to Theo's house, he turned to his boyfriend concernedly. "Is everything okay? You're very quiet."

Theo nodded. "I was just thinking." He looked up at Liam from the passenger seat and gave a small smile. "I haven't talked about my mom normally in years. She doesn't usually come up in our house...it's really just a mention of 'my ex-wife.' Never 'Theo's mom.'"

Liam's face fell into an expression of sympathy. "I'm sorry, T," He sighed, but Theo shook his head.

"No, it was good. It was like it didn't even matter. Talking about it I guess opened it up a little bit." Liam gave a small smile to him and Theo returned it. "Thank you for tonight, Li."

With no response, Liam leaned over the seat and kissed him, which felt just as good as it did on their first date. "You're the best," Liam whispered against his lips, Theo's fingers creeping up his collarbone. "Don't forget that."

Liam walked Theo to his door and gave him a kiss on the cheek, remembering the time when Jonathan had caught them out on the front doorstep getting a lot less PG. "I'll see you tomorrow," Liam said, patting his arm and heading off towards his car. He waited until Theo was inside safely until he drove away, soft smiles and memories of their past month together and before. 

 

**Author's Note:**

> I don't like this ending, but I hope you liked it enough anyway :)


End file.
